1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general to skates.
2. Description of the Art
Ice skates, roller skates and, more recently, in-line roller skates have been used by many for enjoyment as well as to play various sports, such as hockey. The recently popular in-line roller skates have also been used by serious hockey players for off season training as well as to play hockey using on a non-ice surface.
In all types of skates, the ice blades, the toe and heel roller skate assemblies, and the in-line assembly containing a plurality of urethane rollers are securely and generally permanently attached to the sole of a skate boot or shoe. This has resulted in the dedicated use of hockey skates, roller skates or in-line roller skates for a single activity or sport.
The advantages of providing such skates with easily attachable and detachable assemblies including ice blades, toe and heel roller assemblies, or an in-line roller assembly, has been noted and a large number of interchangeable or convertible skates have been devised. The use of such convertible skates provides the ability, in the case of ice skates and in-line roller skates, to easily switch between ice hockey and in-line roller skating without the need for and, more importantly, the expense of providing separate skate boots or shoes which represent a major part of the cost of a pair of ice skates or in-line roller skates. Thus, for example, a hockey player using a convertible skate could use the same pair of boots or shoes with ice blades to play ice hockey and then, with the removal of the ice blades and the attachment of an in-line roller assemblies to the same boot or shoe, to be able to use such in-line skates for exercise, enjoyment or to play hockey on a non-ice surface.
Such convertible skates also provide the user with an opportunity to have a second replacement set of ice blades, in-line roller assemblies, etc., for immediate use in the case of damage or dulling of the pair of blades or roller assemblies attached to the user's skate boots.
Although numerous convertible or replaceable skates have been previously proposed, the skate art still lacks a commercially viable convertible skate which meets the primary criteria of ease of attaching and detaching the blades or in-line roller assemblies to the skate boot and, more importantly, providing a rigid, secure attachment of the blade and roller assembly to the boot which does not exhibit any play or relative movement between the blade or roller assembly and the boot. One problem which hinders the easy attachment and detachment of the blades or in-line roller assemblies to the skate boot is that the previous convertible skate designs typically require a tool, such as a wrench, to fixedly join the blade or roller assembly to the skate boot.
Another problem which has impeded the widespread use of a commercially viable convertible skate is the design of previous convertible skates wherein the ice blades, or in-line roller assembly which, while being easily attachable and detachable from a skate boot, have different heights, when mounted on the boot, between the boot sole and the underlying ground, ice or use surface. This differing height between skate attachments provides difficulties to a user who must adjust to the different heights when switching between ice blades and in-line roller skate attachments. The height differences result in eye, hand and foot coordination difficulties and, in the case of the use of such convertible skates for playing hockey, require the user to resort to different length hockey sticks in order to accommodate the differing heights of the ice blades and in-line roller attachments. Further, the structure of prior art convertible skates results in the sole of the boot and therefore the feet of the user being elevated higher above the underlying surface than a conventional dedicated, non-convertible ice skate or in-line roller skate. This greater height from the underlying surface decreases maneuverability.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a convertible skate in which a single skate or shoe body is capable of interchangeably receiving different attachments including ice blades, in-line roller assemblies, shoe soles, etc. It would also be desirable to provide a convertible skate in which such attachments can be quickly and easily attached to and removed from the shoe body particularly without the need for a separate tool. It would also be desirable to provide a convertible skate in which such attachments are securely attached to the shoe body without any relative movement in either longitudinal or lateral directions, with respect to the shoe body. It would also be desirable to provide a convertible skate in which the height of all of the attachments and the adapter used to mount the attachment on the sole of the shoe body is identical for all of the possible attachments usable with a single shoe body. Finally, it would be desirable to provide a convertible skate which positions the sole of the skate and therefore the feet of the user as close as possible to the underlying use surface.